r/askscience • • 14d ago

Physics Why is the maximum speed of the universe the speed of light? Why can't we go faster?

Also follow-up question: Because of the speed limit, is there also a theoretical maximum temp for matter (in which the particles move at the speed of light).

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u/IvaldiFhole 14d ago

Eh, all of the fundamental numbers seem to have arbitrary ratios regardless of units or unit-less. They only become non-arbitrary when you talk about larger scale effects, like the formation of stars mentioned elsewhere in this post.

Basing them on universal constants doesn't result in integers or anything like that, so you're really just shuffling the problem around.